The Other Two – Season 2 Review

I might have spoken too soon about how great this show is. Season 1 still makes for some really funny TV, but Season 2 is definitely not as good. The main issue I have is that they’ve changed what it means to be an “other two.” For most of the season, Chase takes a backseat, because it’s their mom who is the famous one now. Though Molly Shannon is fantastic in this role, I liked her more as the stage mom in Season 1 instead of being a talk show host in Season 2. That also completely changes Streeter’s reason to exist, as he is no longer a manager but Pat’s love interest. Ew. Well, technically, Streeter is still a manager, but he co-manages with Brooke now. This means Brooke is a successful businesswoman, which makes the “other two” gimmick no longer work for her. Granted, the position stresses her out, and there’s comedy in watching her fail upwards, but it doesn’t carry the same charm as her being a lowly assistant in Season 1.

At least we can still delight in Cary’s struggles to be an actor. I was sad that he really did replace his agent from Season 1, though the agent that wanted him to write a screenplay, then couldn’t bring herself to read it was funny. I also liked the running gag of so many staff members in the hospital being actors practicing for their roles. Again, it felt very Arrested Development-y. And they got me pretty good with the callback to Brooke camping out in the real estate unit, so much so that I had to keep checking if I was watching the right episode until I realized what was going on. So, yes, the writing is still pretty sharp. I wouldn’t say you shouldn’t watch Season 2 if you liked Season 1. Just know that the character dynamics change a lot. Maybe this means a new Dubek family member becomes famous in every subsequent season. We’re running out of family members if that’s the case, though.

The Other Two – Season 1 Review

This is the funniest show I’ve seen in a long time. The writing is really sharp with expertly crafted callbacks and amusing lampoons of pop culture. It kind of reminds me of Arrested Development, not only because of its approach to comedy but the fact that it’s about a family navigating the public eye. Plus, actor Drew Tarver totally feels like a young Jason Bateman. His reactions and delivery are perfect. So it sucks that he’s often given the worst storylines. In the first few episodes, his character, Cary, struggles to understand what his relationship is with his roommate, but it ultimately goes nowhere and provides zero laughs. Later in the season, Cary gets a little too fame hungry and pushes away the high school teacher he met earlier, a charming character I was hoping we’d get to see more of.

The best material is when Cary and his sister, Brooke, have to deal head-on with living in their younger brother’s celebrity shadow. Chase’s sweet naivety clashes so perfectly with Cary’s and Brooke’s jealousy that it’s a shame Chase isn’t in the season more. I get that the show is about “the other two,” but I’m more interested in what makes them “the other two” and not just Cary and Brooke as themselves. Like, Cary becoming somewhat famous because of Chase’s song about his gay brother and Brooke having to be Chase’s assistant are perfect plot points. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention Ken Marino as Chase’s manager, who is perhaps the best thing about the show. I love how incompetent and insecure he is, and I hope future seasons find ways to keep him around now that Chase is apparently off to college.

Blue Fire Review

This is a game I liked enough to beat, but I’m hesitant to give it a full-blown recommendation. Blue Fire has a lot of issues. It’s been touted as a cross between Hollow Knight (a game I couldn’t get into) and Zelda (a series I obviously love), so it’s no wonder my feelings are mixed. The main problem I have with the game is that the combat is clunky and pits you against unfair enemies. The second area of the game is particularly frustrating, because that’s when you fight floating ice monsters whose stun/freeze attacks do a huge amount of damage. Worse yet, it takes your character a full second to consume a healing item, and if you have to move before he’s finished, it cancels the healing. So you’re pretty much screwed in some boss battles that never leave you an opening to heal.

What takes the edge off is the fact that you can find/earn lots of upgrades. I’m a sucker for platforming and exploration, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the game. There are two towns with NPCs who dole out side quests, as well as several voids scattered throughout the world that feel like Super Mario challenge levels. These voids are the only way to get health upgrades, though, and some of them are pretty devious. I eventually had to accept that I wasn’t going to be able to max out my health meter. But you can also get upgrades like a double jump or double dash that allow you to cheese your way through parts of these voids. I appreciated that the platforming became easier over time instead of harder, as is usually tradition.

Unfortunately, it’s really easy to miss out on important upgrades due to the way the world is built. This is one big, interconnected castle a la Metroid, but you’re given no map to help you get your bearings. I walked right past the room with the projectile attack upgrade early on, which would have come in handy against those flying ice monsters in Part 2. I did go back and find it after fast travel was unlocked, but there was another early skill—a spin attack—that I never found. The loading screen hints frequently alluded to this spin attack, and yet I somehow beat the entire game without it. On one hand, I guess it’s nice to have a game that doesn’t force your path so much (ahem, Zelda), but that also really screws with the difficulty if you’re not careful.

Red Faction: Armageddon Review

The only other Red Faction game I’ve played was Guerrilla, but I really liked the mechanics of that game. Guerrilla’s open world was also pretty fun, though I didn’t necessarily need another open world going into Armageddon. I was totally okay with smaller, more linear levels as long as the same weapons and destruction were there. Unfortunately, they went too small and linear. The majority of the game takes place in dark, cramped, underground caves with not a lot of buildings you can tear down. Worse yet, the main enemies are generic aliens. What I liked about Guerrilla was infiltrating an enemy base and outsmarting the guards as I ripped apart the walls and floors. You don’t get much of that here. It feels like a huge waste of the game engine.

To be fair, there are still some fun moments of destruction. I liked using the plasma thrower to melt obstacles that were in my way or to quickly drop down a level. The new magnet gun is also fun to use; you can tear chunks of a building off with it and slam them into enemies. But, again, you’re rarely presented with larger buildings that require any thought in their demolition. Whenever the levels do open up, it’s because you’re piloting a (clunky) vehicle. There’s just so much more they could have done with this game. I’m sure budget constraints played a part, but even then… why go with generic aliens? Why make 80% of the game take place underground? At face value, this is an okay shooter with a few neat ideas, but knowing those neat ideas were the hallmark of a better game makes it harder to enjoy.

Miracle Workers – Season 1 Review

The only thing weirder than the story in Miracle Workers’ first season is the fact that the show overall is an anthology, and Season 2 has nothing to do with Season 1. That’s kind of a shame, because Season 1 sets up some interesting mechanics that would have been fun to further explore. Like The Good Place, though, it’s probably better to end when it’s meant to rather than unnecessarily drag a story out. And yes, I’m deliberately name-dropping The Good Place, because Miracle Workers shares a lot in common with it. They both paint a somewhat cynical view of heaven and have a similar sense of humor. The difference is that Miracle Workers’ version of heaven is run by sheer incompetence. I mean, God is played by Steve Buscemi; do I really need to say more?

It actually kind of bugged me how heaven used the same (albeit outdated) tech that we have on Earth, and the angels still had to sleep and eat like normal people. They didn’t play with the concept of celestial beings in the same way that The Good Place did. But then there’s an episode near the end where God’s family ridicules him for making Earth and lazily populating it with creatures that are just like him, and that one conversation cleverly explained/excused the show’s whole gimmick. The thing about Miracle Workers is that it has some really funny ideas. It’s the execution that comes across as a little cheesy. The Good Place could be cheesy, too, but made up for it with heart. Miracle Workers isn’t as sentimental but is just as funny… if you can look past some of the sillier effects and dialogue.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger Review

The other day, I was in the mood for a straightforward first-person shooter that didn’t take itself too seriously. Yeah, I know, that’s a pretty specific itch, and yet Call of Juarez: Gunslinger managed to scratch it. I wouldn’t call this a great game overall, though. While I don’t mind linear levels in a shooter, the levels in Gunslinger are a little too narrow and claustrophobic. Enemies also blend in with the background, making it hard to see who’s shooting at you. It doesn’t help that enemies start shooting from really far away, and most of your weapons are close-range. I know a sniper rifle isn’t realistic for the time period, but damn, I really needed to be able to snipe at times.

Another aspect of the game that drove me nuts were the standoffs that bookended every level. In theory, a standoff is a great idea, but the controls for these sections are terrible. I just started shooting first and taking the “dishonorable kill” penalty so I wouldn’t have to think about them too much. Frankly, I wanted a game with mindless shooting, and you do get plenty of that in the normal stretches of each level. Gunfights are fast-paced and satisfying and (barring the standoffs) don’t bog you down with gimmicky missions. The gameplay couldn’t be any more straightforward: run through town (or a forest) and shoot everything that moves. It’s perfect for what it is.

The best thing about Call of Juarez, though, is the way its narrative is framed. The whole game is narrated by a drunk bounty hunter regaling his adventures in tracking down famous Wild West outlaws. Not only is it funny to hear him constantly say “sumbitch” but his story will periodically change halfway through, thus affecting the level. He might say, “Oh, actually, we came in from the south,” and then the level will restart with you entering town from a different location. Or his audience will challenge him on something like the number of bandits he was up against, and then in the game they’ll suddenly disappear. It’s a neat idea that adds a little more oomph to an otherwise standard arcade-style shooter.